The King's University: Reflective Critique of Sacred Pathways

This report presents a reflective critique of Gary Thomas's 'Sacred Pathways,' focusing on the nine spiritual temperaments discussed in the book. The student summarizes each temperament, including naturalists, ascetics, traditionalists, caregivers, enthusiasts, intellectuals, sensates, activists, and contemplatives, highlighting their significance in Christian spiritual development. The core of the critique involves the student's self-assessment and identification of their top three temperaments: intellectuals, activists, and enthusiasts. The analysis details how these temperaments resonate with the student's personal faith journey, influencing their prayer styles, engagement with church practices, and overall spiritual beliefs. The student explains how these temperaments shifted their perspective from a traditionalist view to a more dynamic and personally engaging approach to faith. The report concludes with a discussion on how these chosen temperaments shape the student's spiritual practices and worldview, supported by references to scholarly works on Christian spirituality and related topics.

1BIBLICAL STUDIES
Content Summary
The book Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul's Path to God is one of the most
important books to discuss on the ways the human souls can discover its closeness and
attachment with the God.1 In this book, nine spiritual temperaments have been described and all
these nine temperaments are crucial in relation to the developments of Christianity.
These nine spiritual temperaments are naturalists, ascetics, traditionalists, caregivers,
enthusiasts, intellectuals, sensates, activists and contemplatives. I have gone through all these
nine spiritual temperaments and I have fixed three of these spiritual temperaments that would be
highly effective in my case. In this book, the shift of the spiritual temperaments have been shown
that will be highly impactful for all the readers.
Throughout the book, it has been suggested that spiritual involvements will change and it
will evolve by replacing the former temperament with the new one. Human beings will find
different ways of through which they will connect with God. The sole purpose of the human
beings would be to connect with God only. The style of prayer would only depend on the
temperaments of the human beings regarding their beliefs for God. This will only cater to the
spiritual nutrition and helping the human soul to achieve the salvation from the sins.
My best 3 spiritual temperaments
I have gone through all the spiritual temperaments of Christianity and analyzed on its
impacts on the human mind. Most of the temperaments in the process are very interesting and I
believe these temperaments have focused on the different perspectives of reaching the God. The
1 Thomas, G. (2010). Sacred pathways. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

2BIBLICAL STUDIES
prayers of the human beings to God will depend on these spiritual temperaments. They will seek
the blessings and love from God as they observe the religious divinity in this scenario. The top
three temperaments for me in this context are intellectuals, activists and enthusiasts. After going
through the spiritual temperament inventory, these are the top three components that have gained
the highest scores. I am a devoted Christian and I attend all the church gatherings very
frequently.2 My spiritual practices are largely influenced by these practices. I was quite surprised
by the ways I scored. Previously I believed in the traditionalist view of the Christian spiritual
practices like most other devotees. After I read the book of Thomas, my conventions went on to
change very radically. I scored the highest in the three elements that are mentioned above.
All these three practices will indeed have deep consequences into my spiritual practices
on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. In order to make readers understand, I should
mention the definite viewpoints of the top three spiritual temperaments I have selected. When I
followed the traditionalist view of Christian spiritual practices, I found that the spiritual practices
became an obligation for me rather than the delight of mind.
So, I was very pragmatic about my views and I wanted to change them to enjoy the
teachings of Jesus Christ. I thought it could only be possible if I followed the intellectuals and
activists temperament. Now, I love God with all my mind but I keep my heart open for all new
attractions that could shape my future properly. In the later stages, I could also find out more
effective ways of loving God. I will always need to find out new things about the God. This will
2 Thomas, G. (2010). Sacred pathways. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

3BIBLICAL STUDIES
keep me jovial and I will study God with more intensity and follow the study of apologetics in
this regard.3 This will also shape my intellectual beliefs about the existence of God.
The second principle of spiritual temperament that I believe is the activist one. I was
surprised that I scored so much for this principle.4 I would look to love God by fighting for my
values and confront with the opposing values. The truth of God in the evangelic practices will
shape my belief and participate in God’s truth also. The third spiritual temperament through the
inventory is enthusiast.
I will love and enjoy the truth of God through celebrations and mysteries. According to
the spiritual believers, people will love God and His truth with all their gusto. The passion and
enthusiasm of human beings will reflect through the enthusiast temperament. The spiritual
developments in Christian teaching practices resonated within me through the ways Thomas has
presented the book. In the light of these new practices, I will indulge in Christian spiritual
practices through intellectual and activist modes.5 These beliefs will be based on new discoveries
after implementations and help me to fight for these truths to establish my views.
3 Ridgely, Susan B. 2014. "Connected Christians: New Practices In Evangelical Spirituality". Spiritus: A Journal Of
Christian Spirituality 14 (1): 84-93. doi:10.1353/scs.2014.0014.
4 Smith III, James D, Glen G Scorgie, Simon Chan, and Gordon T Smith. 2016. Dictionary Of Christian Spirituality.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
5 Haight, Roger. 2014. "Liberation And Spirituality". Buddhist-Christian Studies 34 (1): 135-144.
doi:10.1353/bcs.2014.0008.

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References and Bibliography
Haight, Roger. 2014. "Liberation And Spirituality". Buddhist-Christian Studies 34 (1): 135-144.
doi:10.1353/bcs.2014.0008.
Ridgely, Susan B. 2014. "Connected Christians: New Practices In Evangelical Spirituality".
Spiritus: A Journal Of Christian Spirituality 14 (1): 84-93. doi:10.1353/scs.2014.0014.
Smith III, James D, Glen G Scorgie, Simon Chan, and Gordon T Smith. 2016. Dictionary Of
Christian Spirituality. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Thomas, G. (2010). Sacred pathways. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.